Scarlet Heart
by Madame-DeathScythe
Summary: She was a warrior, but if she needed him, he was willing to be her knight in shining armor. For GrayZa week, rated T for possible swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**First day of GrayZa week! Whoooo! GrayZa is my secondary otp, right after NaLu, but I don't like to get as freaked out about it because _I know it won't be canon_ (sobs). But, JerZa is my backup ship for Erza, and I like Gray with various others (just not Juvia and Lucy), so I'll live. Anyway, I love doing these pairing weeks, but I wish NaLu and GrayZa didn't overlap so much (NaLu week ended yesterday, so I barely got this done). So, here we are, GrayZa week day 1: Memories.**

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_"I'll scream these words till they come true, then I will think no more of you. Look back on what I'm going through, this isn't my identity." -"Only a Memory," Icon for Hire_

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"Hey…how are you holding up?"

Erza didn't look up, but acknowledged her friend's presence with a small smile. "Okay, I guess," She chuckled humorlessly. "I thought I'd moved on, but…I guess not." Gray shrugged, trying not to give away how concerned he really was, as she'd told him not to worry about her. "That's okay," He whispered, a feeble attempt at consoling the scarlet haired warrior. "Some things you never get over. Like how I never really…" He trailed off, suddenly recalling how much he didn't want to talk about that. The memory of his beloved teacher was always, and would always be, a slap to the face, no matter how long ago it was. "Got over Ur?" Erza finished for him, an understanding smile on her lips. "I guess you're right. But I feel like I should be able to overcome my past, you know? Things have changed since then. _I've_ changed since then. Or at least…I thought I had. I thought I was stronger now, but seeing him again after seven years…it was different. I know he's changed, I know I've changed, and yet, a part of me still sees that evil person who had his face. And that part of me turns into a scared little girl all over again."

Her voice cracked ever so slightly, just enough for Gray to notice. But he made no comment on it; Erza didn't like people seeing the cracks in her armor, so to speak. He placed his arm gently around her shoulders, pulling her into a somewhat awkward hug. "It's alright. I guess I'm kind of the same," He sighed. "Ultear looks so much like her. And while I know I can trust her now, and I care for her, it's still hard to see her face. It's almost like…it's almost like I think she's going to leave me all over again. She just brings it all back."

Erza rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes drifting closed. "Yeah," She breathed. "I guess Jellal does the same to me. I wish I could get past that, but I seem to have put up a wall. I really care about him, but I just can't…" She didn't finish her sentence, but he understood all the same.

"But those are just memories now, right?" Gray reassured her, offering a compassionate grin. "We're different now. Stronger, wiser. And if we find ourselves back in those dark places, we have each other, right?"

Erza exhaled quietly, her lips stretching into a delicate smile. "Yeah…thank you, Gray. You've taken a lot of weight off my shoulders. More than you know."

"Sure thing," He grinned. "I'll always be there to pick you up when you fall." She giggled, a rare, bubbly sound. "That sounds so cheesy. But…yeah. Me too."

From then on, the scared, lonely children that they'd once been were no more than memories.

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**Meh. I wish it was longer, but I spent so much time on NaLu week that I ended up not getting this done until today. Plus, the summer PE class I'm taking hasn't been nice to me and I'm really tired but I really wanted to do this, so...here it is. Well, I'll be updating this daily all week, and hopefully they'll improve in quality. Happy Grayza week! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**And GrayZa week continues! Here's day 2: Tears.**

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_"And the tears go streaming down your face, when you lose something you can't replace; when you love someone but it goes to waste, could it be worse?" -"Fix You," Coldplay_

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Dark blue eyes darted from left to right, searching. He waited for the flash of bright red to come and ease his mind, but it never did. "Where is she…?" He mumbled. The others around him seemed preoccupied, unconcerned. Maybe he should have been, too. She probably wanted to be alone, after the recent developments with her childhood friend, but that didn't stop him from worrying.

Gray Fullbuster was a worrier by nature, and he'd probably be worrying about Erza on his death bed, whether that headstrong woman liked it or not.

"Is she alright?" Gray tapped Wendy on the shoulder, knowing she'd checked up on the subject of his thoughts a while ago. "Not really," Wendy whispered, her innocent face falling into something akin to discomfort and sadness rolled into one. "I haven't known Erza-san for very long, but I wouldn't expect her to be so sensitive. She seemed so untouchable…"

Gray shook his head. "No," He sighed. She _pretends_ to be invulnerable, but she doesn't think she is in the least. It's all a ruse she uses to protect herself. She's insecure." He ran a hand through his dark hair and huffed, pushing himself up off the ground. "I'm gonna go check on her."

Natsu, Lucy, and the others glanced at him as he left, but quickly resumed their previous conversation. They all knew Erza was in a particularly fragile state, and they all figured they'd leave her alone, he assumed. But he wasn't good at leaving things alone, was he? The anxious Ice Make mage headed in the direction Wendy had pointed him in, wasting no time in finding her.

When he heard sobs, he knew he'd reached his destination.

Gray stopped, slipping out of her line of sight. He bit his lip, watching her silently. Erza looked miserable and helpless. Nothing at all like the warrior he knew. Her entire body shook violently, racked with painful-sounding sobs. Gray swallowed hard, internally struggling with himself. He did want to go over and talk to her, of course; he wanted to at least try to console her. After all, he _was_ the one who said she had to be in the guild so she didn't have to cry. But it appeared that this time, being in the guild wouldn't matter. She was crying anyway.

That was partially his fault, at this point. Gray didn't want her to cry, but he wasn't exactly doing anything to stop it, was he?

But, on the other side of things, there was a valid reason for that, he supposed. The entire reason he said all those things was because he didn't like to see her crying. He didn't know what to _do._

Panicking, Gray turned and walked back in the direction he'd come from. He felt stupid and cowardly, but he couldn't seem to stop his feet from taking him away from the woman he'd been so worried about. No…not woman, he thought. _Girl._ Gray had been with Erza for most of his life. She was one of the many who changed him from an angry, lonely boy to a man who would put everything on the line for his family. Likewise, he'd helped her grow from a crying girl with one eye and nowhere to go into one of the strongest women he, and possibly the world, had ever seen. But now, all of that seemed to fade away. Suddenly, it was as if she'd transformed into a broken little girl again right before his eyes. It'd been years since he'd seen that girl. As much as he wanted to, he wasn't sure if he could do anything for her now.

Gray and Erza had witnessed each other crying many, many times. And while he wasn't sure about her, there was one thing he knew. No matter how many times he saw it in his life, he would never be able to handle seeing her cry.

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**I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. Like I said, that class takes a lot out of me, and I spent too much time on NaLu week when I should've evenly distributed how much time I spent on NaLu and GrayZa, since they're my favorite pairings and the weeks overlap. As a result, both the prompts so far have been short and just kind of thrown together. I wish they weren't but what can you do, you know? Ah well.**

**Hope you enjoyed it :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 3: Trust :)**

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_"Take me by the hand, take me somewhere new. I don't know who you are, but I, I'm with you." -"I'm With You," Avril Lavigne _

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Three times he asked her if she trusted him, and three times she answered him differently.

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_Year X778 _

"Dammit, Erza! You knew I was going for that!"

The twelve year old girl shrugged, her scarlet hair flowing behind her as she swung. "Too bad, Gray. I got here first." Gray mumbled something irritably under his breath, bringing a devious smirk to Erza's face. "Fine then," He grumbled, and she noticed that he'd lost his shirt at some point during the exchange when she wasn't watching. "I'll just push you for a while. Then it's my turn."

The second his hands touched her back, she jumped right off the swing as if it was on fire. "Hey!" He shouted, glaring at her. "What was that for?! You don't trust me enough to let me push you on the damn swing?"

"No," She replied nonchalantly. "I don't trust anyone. Last time I put too much faith in someone, I almost died."

Gray shuffled his feet, his eyes meeting the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh…well, sorry, I guess. About whatever it was that happened. I don't really trust people easily either…"

Erza nodded. "It's okay. You didn't know," She gestured toward the swing. "You can have it. I'm going home."

She walked away in silence with him watching as he swung back and forth, alone.

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_Year X784_

"Erza?"

Said woman glanced behind her, her expression soft. "Yes?" Gray looked her dead in the eye, something only he had dared to do for a long time. "That man. The one who wanted to use you as a sacrifice. Was he the one..?"

Erza nodded solemnly. "Yes," She sighed. "Jellal. He's the one who made me lose trust in people. The one I told you about." Gray took his place standing next to her, nodding slowly. "What was he like?" He inquired cautiously. "I mean, before." Erza chuckled softly. "Well, I can't be sure. He could've been deceiving us the whole time. But before he became that way—or, maybe showed us his true self—you wouldn't have thought him capable of such awful things. He was kind, compassionate, brave, clever…a true leader. He was my best friend, besides Simon. But then it all turned around."

Gray sighed, his eyes darting in her direction and then away again. "Erza?"

"Yes?"

"When you first told me, you said you never trust anyone. Is that still true? It's been years since then. Do you trust me now?"

She smiled gently at him.

"I think so."

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_Year X799_

"Look out!"

A wall of ice formed in front of her, giving her seconds to dodge. The creature roared, shattering Gray's ice with one blow. Erza didn't manage to get out of the way fast enough, and was knocked backwards by an onslaught of ice shards. "Erza!" The distraught shout seemed distant to the Titania; her vision was blurring and she vaguely detected the ground shaking beneath her, accompanied by a large, booming sound. "G-Gray…you should…you should run…" She slurred, struggling to keep her head. "No," He mumbled, glancing behind him at the large creature approaching them. "We've only got one other choice…Erza, do you trust me?"

Though she was succumbing to the throbbing pain in her head, she was still awake enough to know the answer. Her eyes began to flutter closed, and she smiled almost peacefully.

"Always."

Her surroundings were beginning to spin and the sounds were getting farther and farther away, as if she were falling at a rapid speed down into a bottomless pit, but she heard him say "good" and something else she didn't catch. Dazed, Erza watched as Gray stood his ground in front of the giant, positioning himself in a familiar stance…

Iced Shell.

"Gray…"

As she lost consciousness, she knew what he'd said to her, the words she'd missed only seconds before.

_"I'm sorry."_

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**So this, like all the others, was sort of written on the spot (I should've written them all in advance *sobs*). I don't know, I actually really like how this one turned out.**

**...**

**Am I a bad person?**

**Uh...sorry about the ending?  
**

**Thanks for reading :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 4: Battle**

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_"Get up, go down, then we go one more round; it's wrong, they say, but I can't stay away." -"I Can't Stay Away," The Veronicas_

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Gray took a deep breath, his dark blue eyes fixated on the ceiling. It was around midnight, and while he was tired, he couldn't seem to sleep. Usually, he would be immensely frustrated by this and trying to uncover the reason his eyes refused to close, but this time, it was more of a grudging acceptance.

The Ice Make mage glanced to his right, careful not to wake the woman next to him. The scarlet beauty was sleeping peacefully. In his bed. For the third time that week.

He groaned quietly, covering his face with his hands in exasperation. Why did they keep doing this? It was wrong. Wrong, wrong,_wrong_. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to tell her how wrong he felt it was. First off, they'd known each other for ages and this could mess up their relationship entirely. Second, her feelings for Jellal weren't exactly obliterated, were they? If anything, they were just growing stronger by the day. Gray really had nothing _against_ the blue-haired fugitive—at least, not anymore—but he couldn't help but feel jealous. It was rather obvious to Gray that the woman beside him was simply seeking comfort in him until she could finally be with the one she really wanted. It was a fling. He was a rebound. Temporary with no meaning.

…Now, how the _hell_ was he supposed to tell her that he thought of her as way more than that?

That was the problem. Gray Fullbuster didn't want to be the rebound guy, but damn, it may be his only opportunity to be with Erza in the way he really wanted to. He didn't want to be friends, he didn't want to be "like siblings." He wanted to _be with her._ But he was nothing to her, except a friend and, as of late, a meaningless fling. And he hated it, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything to her. Erza loved Jellal. That was that. Saying something to her would only cause unnecessary issues between the two of them, something he was sure he wasn't willing to put up with. But dear lord, how he wanted to step up. Half of him said yes, half of him said no. It was like a war inside his head.

…No, it wasn't_like_ a war. It _was_ a war. An all-out bloodbath between his rational half and his emotional half.

Gray huffed, punching his pillow a couple of times before rolling over and making another failed attempt at sleeping. He was fighting a battle with himself. And man, was he losing.

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**This is waaaaaaaaaay shorter than I would've liked, but I do like how it turned out. It was my favorite prompt to write for so far, so I wish I could've made it longer, but I wasn't so sure how to go about making it longer. Also, I'm so ridiculously tired today so my writing isn't that great. I'm not really thinking as clearly as I usually would be. Sobbing why does GrayZa week have to overlap with my first week of summer PE. **

**Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Day 5: Kiss**

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_"I wanna crush, I wanna fall, I wanna be somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the middle." -"The Middle," Demi Lovato_

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Fun fact: Gray Fullbuster likes red lipstick.

Erza, lucky her, overheard this; the men of the guild were having a casual conversation about what they liked in a woman (funny, Erza thought, how she could pinpoint a woman in the guild who, by the sound of it, would be perfect for each man), and Gray happened to mention red lipstick. At this, Fairy Tail's resident Titania began formulating her plan: operation Seduce Gray Fullbuster.

Erza Scarlet was not usually one to call men's attention to her; if they were looking at her in a way she thought too provocative, she'd just punch them very hard in the face before telling them to back off. This, on the other hand, could be fun. It would be entertaining to watch Gray squirm, the entirety of the guild would likely be in a comical state of shock, and Juvia would try even harder to get Gray's attention, therefore flustering him even more and giving Erza a good laugh at his expense. Really, she saw no downside.

Erza strutted into the guild, wearing a cute blue dress and her favorite pair of heels. After all, if she was going to do one thing, why not go all out? She watched as heads turned; her friends were all just as surprised as she'd predicted at the sight of her attire (or, possibly, at the absence of her usual armor). Her hair, which she'd curled to add to the affect, bounced and swayed behind her. She felt as if she had a million eyes on her, and if she did say so herself, it felt damn good. From her peripheral vision, she could see the majority of the guild's women exchanging knowing smirks, excluding Juvia, who was watching in horror as the center of everyone's attention mad her way over to the Ice Make mage. Erza winked at them, confirming their suspicions. You couldn't get anything past the women of Fairy Tail.

Reveling in this new found attention (_"maybe I should dress up like this more often…"_) Erza slid onto the bar stool next to the one Gray occupied. "Hey, Gray," She greeted, holding back a giggle at the sight of his gaping face. She feigned innocence, tilting her head in mock confusion and pouting her lips to make absolutely sure he noticed the color. "What are you gaping at? Is there something in my hair?" Gray shook his head. "Oh, no, no, I just…uh…" Erza smirked inwardly. Just as she'd predicted, Gray was staring at her lips. Her plan was working perfectly.

"Since when do you wear that color?" He inquired, a cute pink dusting his cheeks. She bit her lip, seemingly for no reason, and answered. "I've worn it a couple times. You must not have been around." He nodded, biting his lip as well. "Right, right…well, uh, it looks good on you." Erza smiled daintily. "Thank you, Gray," She gave a slight nod, and shot an amused look at Mira, who was wiping down the bar and biting back hysterical giggles. Oh, he was squirming, alright. This was going perfectly.

"So since you're all dressed up, maybe you want to, like, go to dinner or something tonight? With me?"

….Well, _that_ wasn't part of the plan.

Erza spluttered, her composure completely shattered. No! No no no! This wasn't what was supposed to happen! _She_ was the mastermind, not him!

But hell, maybe a date wouldn't be so bad.

"Sure."

"Cool. I'll pick you up at seven."

"O-okay. Yeah."

And with that, Gray stood, as if he'd never been flustered by her sudden makeover, and walked out of the guild.

Damn. The tables had sure turned on her.

* * *

Outside the guild, Natsu caught up with Gray, a stupid grin on his face. "So," He started. "It went as planned, huh?" Gray nodded, his expression smug. "Yup. I knew she'd overhear us and try something. See? I'm the master."

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, ice ass. Anyway, you gonna get that kiss you wanted so bad or did I help you fake that conversation for nothing?" Gray smirked. "Oh, I'm getting that kiss. You watch. Maybe next, I'll help you with Lucy. If you're good."

"Hey!"

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**So I decided to take a lighter approach with this one. Oh Erza, you think you're so devious, but Gray is the true mastermind here. Hehe. And I added a bit of NaLu at the end because I couldn't help myself. Yay NaLu! :D**

**Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks to everyone who has followed, reviewed, and favorited!**


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